


Alone in Body but not Soul

by asterysk



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, linked universe au - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Existential Crisis, Four Has A Bad Time, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, LMAO, Serious Injuries, The other links are mentioned but this is four focused, Unbeta'd bc lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 20:20:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20031757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asterysk/pseuds/asterysk
Summary: In the midst of battle, Four takes a heavy hit and finds himself- themselves- heavily injured in the pitch blackness, unable to move and in pain.They would be completely alone if not for their unusual situation.





	Alone in Body but not Soul

**Author's Note:**

> Yay I actually wrote some more stuff and it's linked Universe stuff
> 
> Shout outs to the LU discord for enabling me lmao

The heat from the flames was suffocating. The light, too, had a double edge - it chased the darkness away but only so much, letting flickers become figures in the corners of your sight. All around them as they ran, new fires broke out as the fireballs rained down, hampering their escape from both the hoard of monsters and the fire front rapidly approaching.

"THIS WAY!" Warriors bellowed over the roar of flames, waving in the direction of an opening between the impossibly dense trees and undergrowth.

The thorns tore at cloth and flesh as they ran, but this was a matter of life or death. They needed to keep moving lest they become trapped by the chaos.

Wind stumbled over an unseen tree root, and wheezed for breath against the smoke stinging at his lungs. Hands helped him up, gripping tightly and pulling him along again. With the blurriness of his eyes, all Wind could see of Four was a mess of colours dancing in the firelight.

"C'mon Wind, hold on to me. We'll pull through together."

At the head of the group and no longer enclosed by the flames, Twilight paused to look back. "How do we stop the fireballs!?"

Wild, panting, skidded to a halt beside him.

"There's a Meteor Wizzrobe causing all this - it's hiding in the back behind the fire line. If I can get it with an ice arrow the fireballs will stop... Easier said than done with this amount of cover though."

"Focus on getting that shot then, I'll cover you."

The nine had barely had time to regroup before monsters appeared from all sides, each lit only by the orange glow suffusing the otherwise pitch black.

"DEFENSIVE CIRCLE, WE'RE SURROUNDED!" Time's shout rang out through the cramped clearing, and the Heroes each fell into position, ready for the onslaught to come.

There was a strange beat of quiet before the charge, punctuated only by the crackle of flames, and Legend's muttered remark of "They don't make this easy for us, do they?"

And then came the melee.

Between the raging wildfire, the clash of weapons, and the shouts and cries of both monsters and heroes, the chaos was truly worthy of the name Din. The fire was advancing still, and the meteors were drawing near again. Wild stood at the centre of the group, bow drawn, waiting for that perfect shot. There was a glimmer in the distance, the tell tale sign that Wizzrobes left as they slipped in and out of sight... Soon there would be an opening.

For the other eight, fighting in such close quarters was taking its toll. Sky had barely any room to dodge a Moblin's spear; Hyrule lost a few hairs from his head as he ducked a slash; Legend's arm was nicked by the tip of Time's blade as he parried a heavy blow. Still, they held out, holding the circle.

That is, until the meteors were upon them once again.

The shot was infuriatingly out of Wild's sight, but the oncoming meteor was not.

"FOUR, LEGEND, FIREBALL!"

They had enough time to jump out of the way, but Four had jumped outwards where Legend had jumped inwards.

Four didn't see the swing of a heavy club aimed at his back, wielded by a black Moblin perfectly blended into the darkness.

He had no time to dodge this blow before it knocked his slight body clear off its feet, sending him flying through the flames.

He barely heard the shouts of horror as he tumbled through undergrowth, down, down into pitch black.

* * *

Between the stinging of burns and thorn-inflicted wounds, the contrasting numbness in his extremities, and the disorientation of being thrown so far, it took some time for it to register in Four's mind that they had come to a stop.

All they could see was the faint, distant glow in the sky of the fire, useless to actually see by. The spots in his vision seemed to taunt them, a mere memory of light.

How far away was he from everyone? It felt like they had fallen down a good distance... Could he get back to them?

Trying to sit up made Four scream in pain as something in his spine refused to move.

It only subsided when he held completely still and limp, breaths shallow and shuddering. Well, there was the answer to that. They were stuck. And severely injured for that matter.

As Four's awareness of his body came back to them, other pains and sensations bubbled to the surface. His fingers felt tingly. Burns that they had been aware of hurt so much more. Warm liquid... Blood. They couldn't tell how much, but it was more than was comfortable for sure.

Fear rippled through Four. Dissonance.

"Not good." Green tried to steel himself, to hold himself together if not the four of them.

"No shit." Blue's retort was more muted than usual, betraying the emotion underneath.

"...At least we can still actually feel our legs?" The hope in Red's musing was shallow, fragile.

"That can change..." Vio was quiet and withdrawn, tumultuous thoughts tangible to the other three.

The Four collectively took a deep breath, adjusting to the situation they found themselves in.

Red was the one to speak up again first.

"What do we do?"

"What can we do? We can't move!" Blue snapped, but there was a waver to it.

"We wait. It's out of our hands." Green's mellow tone was the kind of resignation rather than assurance.

"Wait for what? To die?!" Blue's frantic outburst was clipped short as he felt the effect his words had on the others. "Sorry. I- I just can't abide being helpless."

"We won't die, we'll be fine, the others will find us and a couple of potions or a fairy will have us up in no time."

Nobody wanted to remark on how obvious Red's doubts were in that statement.

There was silence again as each of the four pursued their own train of thought.

Green was running over the sensations they could feel, grounding themselves despite the pain. Pain, at least, was a tell for how they were doing.

"Guys, I want to check ourselves over... Can't move our arm by myself though."

"What for? It fucking hurts, tada~"

"Blue, please-"

"He has a point, Green... The pain is... A lot. What if you make things worse?"

"Red, we're bleeding. We can't see how much. It could be a lot. Maybe we can staunch it or apply pressure... Vio?"

"...Sorry?"

"The bleeding! How have you not been listening?"

"I... I was thinking, Green."

"... Sorry, Vio. It... Sorry. The pain is getting to us all, I think."

"...I think you're right there."

"This sucks."

"To put it mildly."

"..."

Red spoke up again, unable to take the silence.

"...What were you thinking about, Vio?"

"I... You don't want to know."

"..."

If Red had control of their body, and they weren't in huge amounts of pain... they would be fidgeting.

"Please, I can't take the silence. I need to talk about something, anything."

"...Do you really want to know? It's... Heavy."

Green spoke up in the pause, voice low and measured.

"If you're comfortable sharing, Vio... Then I'm willing to talk about it. We're in a bit of a heavy situation after all."

In contrast, Blue was as subtle as a brick.

"You're freaking out about dying, aren't you?"

"Blue!"

Vio didn't need to speak for the others to get their confirmation, but he did anyway.

"...No, he's right. Well, if you really want to join in my existential crisis... Sure. Whatever." When no one stopped him, Vio continued. "I'm just wondering... What will happen to us if... When... We die."

"Oh boy." Blue muttered, drawing a mental glare from Green.

Red ignored them, instead taking the mental equivalent of a deep breath.

"Well, we're pretty sure there's an afterlife, right? We'll... We'll be fine."

"...But that's the thing. Are we one soul or four?"

"Oh." The others could feel how taken aback Green was, the usually most steadfast of the four.

Vio laughed, bitter and dry. "I said it was heavy."

"Congrats Vio, you made the body cry." Blue almost said it with a flourish, but a crack of emotion derailed the act.

"...I think we're allowed to get emotional over thoughts like that."

"Red sure is."

"Blue!"

Red laughed despite himself. "No offense taken. Vio's right, I think we all get a pass under these circumstances."

Green's level voice spoke up, and there was something that made the others give him their undivided attention.

"...I don't know the answer to that, Vio, but I know I don't think I could cope being apart from you guys. I mean... Maybe that's the answer. Somewhere in between."

There was a murmur of agreement between them all - and Blue spoke up next, uncharacteristically taking a measured tone.

"Maybe you're all overthinking it, and we can just split up and reform when we want like we do now."

Vio hummed something between agreement and a laugh. "Maybe you're right. That would be a nice solution at least."

Red buzzed with some kind of excitement. "...Soul-ution."

The quiet was shattered by two sets of groans, and a shout from Blue of "Red, NO."

Red just laughed, joyfully and freely.

"...I love you guys, okay? We don't need to share a body to stick together."

Green's smile was tangible. "No, we don't. Even if you make it really fucking hard sometimes."

Vio interjected, a pang of worry staining his emotions. "Uh, speaking of bodies, how are we doing? I think we all zoned out there."

Blue scoffed. "Same old shit, everything hurts like hell."

"...No sign of the others?"

They paused for a moment to listen in the darkness. They could hear no sounds of battle, just the distant crackling of fire and the rustle of wind through the undergrowth.

"Doesn't seem like it." Green sighed. "Gods, I hope they're okay."

"I guess that means we're in for the long haul." The others could feel Vio's anxiety simmering, pervasive and clinging as it was. "What... What if-"

"Vio, there's little we can-"

"What if we die here?! Gods, what if they don't find us-"

"Vio, pull yourself together!" There was concern to Blue's bark. "You panicking isn't helping!"

"...But-"

"No buts! None of us want to die... But if this really is it, I don't want our last moments to be you having a panic attack!"

"I... Are you saying this for yourself or for me?"

"For all of us, Vio! We're all scared!"

They could each feel the others' fear in the moment that followed, a moment of collective honesty with both each other and theirselves.

Red broke the silence again. "We're all scared, but we aren't alone. I know I would be doing a hell of a lot worse if I didn't have you lot."

Green laughed softly. "Yeah, upsides to the world's weirdest roommate situation."

Quiet again. The world seemed to slowing down, or at least their thoughts.

Vio had calmed as much as was possible, but he still felt exhausted. "Everything is going numb, isn't it?"

One of them sighed- Green? "Yeah, it is. Better than pain, I guess."

Collectively, they swallowed. They chose to ignore the taste of blood.

Blue didn't hide the shake in his voice. "This might be it, guys."

Everything was getting heavy... or was it their strength going?

"I love you guys. What... Whatever happens, thanks." Red was reduced to a whimper.

The darkness felt like it had found its way into their mind.

"I love you too Red... Blue, Vio, you too."

"Love you... Seeya on whatever side we wake up on."

"Can't believe you got me sentimental... Love you all."

It felt like falling asleep.

* * *

The next thing they felt was warmth. The numbness was there, but the warmth seeped through.

Voices. Ones that weren't theirs. What were they saying? It was muffled.

Green was the one to try and call out to the others first.

"Guys?"

Vio's voice came back in response.

"Green? Are we... Well, at least we're conscious again."

"Hah, yeah... That's an up for sure."

The sound of crackling flames brought them back to what senses they had access to.

Eyes shot open.

They could see!

Firelight lit the trees around them.

What if the fire had reached them? Could they move now? They needed to see.

Tentatively, they moved their head.

Oh thank the Goddesses.

Wind jumped to his feet and darted over to where Four lay. "Everyone, Four's awake!"

Activity around camp ignited. The clamour was overwhelming for the only-just-woken Four, a point that Time was quick to remind Wind of.

"Give him space, careful- Four, can you talk?"

"...Just about."

"How are you feeling?"

Four grinned as the quartet each offered their snappy response. Instead, together they settled upon something simple and truthful.

"A lot better than we- I- expected to feel."

Legend entered Four's field of view. "Yeah, you sure looked like shit when we found you."

Four lifted an arm to ghost over where their wounds had seemed to have been. Some had disappeared completely, others carefully bandaged.

"Uh, can I move?"

Legend quirked an eyebrow. "I dunno, can you?"

Time rolled his eyes. "Yes, you can try. The potions we shoved into you should have staved off any lasting damage."

Everything felt stiff and sore, but that was an improvement. Assured that everything would be fine, Four collectively breathed a sigh of relief. They wouldn't have to find out the answer to that particular existential question any time soon.


End file.
